Autopneumatic music-playing piano.



No. 886,908. PATENTED MAY 5, 1808. P. 0. WHITE.

AUTOPNEUMATIC MUSIC PLAYING PIANO. APPLIOATION TILED DEG.14, 1907.

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F. 0. WHITE.

AUTOPNEUMATIG MUSIC PLAYING PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED D3014, 19 07.

Q/Vi/bmwoeo PATBNTED MAY' 5, 1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK O. WHITE, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WILCOX 8: WHITE COMPANY, OF MERIDEN, CONNECJTICUT, A. CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

AUTOPNEUMATIC MUSIC-PLAYING PIANO.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK 0. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Meriden, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Autopneumatic Music- Playing Pianos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to auto-pneumatic music playing pianos, and has for its object a superior construction and arrangement of parts whereby great compactness is afforded and the various arts are rendered accessible.

Ileretofore it lias been practically impossible to replace strings or adjust the auto pneumatic mechanism without first removing much of the mechanism or many of the arts. By my construction, this is avoided and all the parts are rendered accessible by simply removing the lower panel.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of the lower part of a piano, the lower panel and the strings of the harp being removed; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the plane of the line scr, looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3 is a front view of the lower part of the harp; Fig. 4 is a side view of the crank shaft mechanism employed between the pedals and the feeder or exhaust bellows; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

1 represents a part of a piano case, which may be of any suitable construction.

2 is the removable lower or front panel which hides from view the auto-pneumatic mechanism and the harp 3. The harp 3 is provided with strings 4 l which are secured at their lower ends to the pins 5-5, (Fig. 3).

Since the action and the different valves and levers form no part of my invention and interfere in no way with the open space making the different parts accessible, the same have not been shown. Placed at or near each end are the exhaust or feeder bellows 66, which are suitably connected to the pedals 77 by means of laterally sus ended crank shafts 88, or any other suita le operative means. The feeder bellows 6*6 are placed far enough forward of the harp 3 to allow a tuner or repairer to place his hand or arm between the same for the replacing of strings, or doing any other work that may become necessary. The bellows 66 are Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 14, 1907.

Patented May 5, 1908.

Serial No. 406,538.

connected by a trunk 9, which is divided into suitable assages and has its central portion narrowed so as to take up little space.

At or near one end of the trunk 9 is an equalizing bellows 10, which is in communi cation with the action (not shown) through the wind-ways 11-11. 12 is the motor, also at one side. On the trunk 9 and near the motor 12 is a motor regulator 13, of any suitable construction.

The particular method of mounting the pedals 7-7 and connecting them to the bellows 66- is immaterial, but the preferable form is to pivotally mount the yoke 14 to the frame. Yoke 14 has a lever 15 attached to its lower side. One end of said lever is provided with a roller upon which the pedal 7 rests. A link 16 connects the yoke 14, and the crank shaft 8 is also connected to the back of the bellows 6 by means of a link 17. It will be readily seen by reference to Figs. 4

and 5, that when the pedal 7 is pressed down,

the yoke 14 is caused to rock. This in turn rocks the crank shaft 8 by means of the link 16. When the crank shaft 8 is rocked, the bellows 6 is caused to expand through the medium of the link 17.

In the various forms of construction, all of the parts of the auto-penumatic mechanism are spaced far enough from the harp to allow a hand or arm to be inserted for the replacement of strings, or for any other purpose desired, ample space being provided. around and back of the trunk 9 to permit of this work.

What I claim is:

1. In an auto-pneumatic music playing instrument, a harp, strings carried thereby, a

case inclosing said harp, pneumatic playing device including feeder and equalizer bellows, a motor and regulator, said parts being arranged at or near each edge of the harp, and a trunk connection between the lower ends of said parts, all of said arts being spaced away from said harp and a 'ording an intermediate clearance opening above the said trunk to give access thereto.

2. In an auto-pneumatic music playing instrument, a harp, strings carried thereby, a case, a feeder bellows at or near one edge of said harp and within said case, a wind trunk extending across the space in front of said the partially occupying the space between the 10 lower ends of said parts, the space above said trunk being open, substantially as and for the purpose described.

FRANK 0. WHITE.

lVitnesses STANLEY B. WHITE, N E. RANDALL. 

